About

The History of BTN:

Brookdale Treeland Nurseries Limited (BTN) was formed in October 1983 as a result of a merger between Brookdale Kingsway Nurseries and Treeland Wholesale Nursery.

Brookdale Kingsway Nurseries

Brookdale Kingsway Nurseries has a long and varied history dating back to 1911 when Mr. H. Drury of Bowmanville started the company. A Pharmacist by profession, Mr. Drury was an avid horticulturist who believed that there was a need for a business where people could buy quality plants for their gardens – something that was in short supply in the early 1900’s. Over the years, the company grew into one of the largest and most respected nursery growers in Canada, selling most of its plant material by mail order.

Treeland Wholesale Nursery

Treeland Wholesale Nursery was founded by Mr. Paul Olsen in 1977 at its original location in Mississauga, Ontario. Mr. Olsen came by horticulture naturally as his father Ejnar was a professional gardener upon his emigration from Denmark to Canada in the mid 1920’s. Paul began his career with Weall and Cullen Nurseries originally as an employee at the Sheppard Avenue store in Toronto, and then at the age of 21 became the youngest store manager in the company’s history. He managed the Woodbridge, Ontario location for several years until his entrepreneurial spirit took him out on his own. He formed Treeland Wholesale Nursery with the intent to supply large landscape contractors with a complete package for their job requirements. Through his hard work and the desire to succeed, the business flourished throughout the late 1970’s and early 1980’s as he built relationships with the largest landscape contractors in the province.

Brookdale Treeland Nurseries Limited

The merger between the two companies seemed the perfect fit, Brookdale Kingsway had large land and inventory holdings, while Treeland had the sales channels to support them. The newly formed company grew by leaps and bounds throughout the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s and became the first national nursery of its kind with locations in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. In the mid 1990’s the Canadian economy was experiencing a very difficult recession and demand for landscape plant material dwindled, causing the company to re-think its business and consolidate operations back to the core market in Ontario. At the same time, BTN began thinking about how to re-brand itself to take on new, emerging opportunities in the retail sector. The entrance of large, national, retail chains into the gardening space provided the company with new channels to market its product and the company once again began to flourish.

Throughout the late 1990’s up to today, the company has grown to be one of the largest suppliers of live plants to retailers and landscape contractors in Canada. Expansions to five locations nationally – one in British Columbia, three in Ontario and one in New Brunswick – allow the company to service every market in the country. Product lines have also expanded to include flowering greenhouse crops, tropical plants, specialty fruits, vines, patio containers as well as holiday greenery.

BTN Today

Brookdale Treeland Nurseries Limited

Today, we are a company that is extremely proud of its history.

Brookdale Treeland Nurseries Limited (BTN) is one of the largest and most respected growers of garden plants in Canada. We are proud to service garden retailers, landscape contractors, municipalities, and golf courses throughout Canada and the United States.

We service our customers from four farms in Ontario and one in British Columbia with a total land base of over 800 acres. BTN specializes in building full-service programs in the following categories: Flowering Shrubs, Evergreens, Broadleaf Evergreens, Holiday Greens, Vines, Perennials, Trees, Small Fruits and Tropicals. BTN is not limited to supplying only these programs to our customers; Using a wide network of over 300 growers, we are able to bring products from around the world, keeping up to date with trends and consumer demands to build programs for our retail and wholesale partners.

The strategic difference that sets BTN apart from everyone else, is BTN’s ability to understand our customers, and know what programs their customers are looking for. Our team does extensive market research, to keep up with current outdoor décor trends and demands. BTN works tirelessly on developing programs that address each unique individual requirements, ensuring our customers are successful offering our products.